No joy rides for the minister and bureaucrats of the ministry of civil aviation as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has rejected their request for a trip in inaugural direct Air India flight to Moscow.
Air India on Monday had its formal launch at Domodedovo International Airport (DME) Moscow. As per the ministry's plan, the first direct Dreamliner Flight that took off from Delhi on Saturday to Moscow was to carry the minister for civil aviation A Gajapathi Raju, MoS GM Siddeshwara, Secretary Ashok Lavasa and three joint secretaries from the ministry.
The ministry had written to the PMO seeking a political clearance for the trip. The letter went to the PMO about a fortnight ago. However, two days before the tour, top sources said, the PMO denied the political clearance.
The ministry did not receive any formal denial. "But it was conveyed to us on Thursday that no one including the minister would board the flight. Sending a formal denial letter would have caused more embarrassment to us," said a senior officer at the ministry of civil aviation on condition of anonymity.
Only three persons — chairman of Air India Rohit Nandan, DGCA director Prabhat Kumar and a director — were allowed to take a new flight to Moscow.
22/07/14 Daily News & Analysis
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Air India on Monday had its formal launch at Domodedovo International Airport (DME) Moscow. As per the ministry's plan, the first direct Dreamliner Flight that took off from Delhi on Saturday to Moscow was to carry the minister for civil aviation A Gajapathi Raju, MoS GM Siddeshwara, Secretary Ashok Lavasa and three joint secretaries from the ministry.
The ministry had written to the PMO seeking a political clearance for the trip. The letter went to the PMO about a fortnight ago. However, two days before the tour, top sources said, the PMO denied the political clearance.
The ministry did not receive any formal denial. "But it was conveyed to us on Thursday that no one including the minister would board the flight. Sending a formal denial letter would have caused more embarrassment to us," said a senior officer at the ministry of civil aviation on condition of anonymity.
Only three persons — chairman of Air India Rohit Nandan, DGCA director Prabhat Kumar and a director — were allowed to take a new flight to Moscow.
22/07/14 Daily News & Analysis
